Saturday, February 4, 2012

Surname Saturday – Ancestor #5 – William Lee YAWMAN

One of my goals for
2012 is to use the Surname Saturday blogging prompt as a way to assure that I
spend some time researching each of my family lines and that I have appropriate
source citations for the genealogical facts related to my ancestors. I’ve
decided to use my ahnentafel report and work back through the generations
starting with my grandparents, writing a summary of each ancestor. If you discovered
this post through a search engine and find one of your ancestors listed here,
please leave a comment to let me know.

My maternal grandfather, William Lee YAWMAN, was born 15
August 1870 in Missouri,[1]
the third child of Michael Heman YAWMAN and Nancy Elgin BURTON.[2]

It’s likely that William’s early childhood was spent in
Meeker County, Minnesota. By 1880, the family had moved to Denison in Grayson
County, Texas[3], and
then about a decade later moved to Kansas.[4]

On 26 September 1897, he married Myrtle Arminta SNIDER in
Lincoln Township, Neosho County, Kansas.[5] William
and Myrtle had eight children:

After William and Myrtle married, they lived in the
southeastern Kansas counties of Labette and Crawford.[14],[15]
Between 1915 and 1920, they moved to Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri.[16] To
my knowledge, they remained in Kansas City until about 1939, when they moved to
California.[17] William
and Myrtle lived at 3304 Freer, El Monte (in Los Angeles County) from about 1940
until his death.[18]

He followed in the trade of his father, working as a
shoemaker throughout his life. According to his death certificate, he was not a
veteran.[19]

William died 21 January 1948 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles
County, California, and was buried 26 January 1948 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park
in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California.[20]

While I have most of the basic research covered for William, there
are additional areas I need to research:

Land and property records in the counties in which William
lived.

Newspapers for communities in which William lived.

When I visited my brother in November, I scanned the few
photos he had of William and I recorded his comments about our
grandfather. I still need to transcribe the voice recording. Additionally, I
need to interview my older sister about her memories of William and see if she has
any pictures. I would also like to find any cousins who may have photos of
William and his family.